


again

by xofrnakxo



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (:, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Poor Tony, and he gets to play with robots, bc peter is in love and makes him happy again, but its okay, honestly tonys just a teenager again, its a bit sad at first, promise itll have a happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 12:58:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16040948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xofrnakxo/pseuds/xofrnakxo
Summary: Tony isn't getting any younger, and he's noticing it. Everytime he looks at his boyfriend, he sees it. What would Peter think of him in the next few years, when he was old and grey and dying? It was only a matter of time and he needed a solution, fast.Or;Tony creates a de-ageing machine, forgets all his memories past his 20th birthday and its up to Peter to piece him back together again.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @askmyknife on this lovely website for beta'ing this for me <3  
> You're a star

Tony wasn’t getting any younger. 

 

It was a thought that always played on his mind. He’d look at his boyfriend Peter, with his smooth skin and hairless face, only 19, and wondered what this boy saw in him, an old man with a drinking problem and PTSD.  A 50 year old who still had nightmares. Peter shouldn’t be wasting his life with someone like him, someone who would be 60 when Peter turned 29. Peter deserved more, deserved more than someone who would have arthritis by the time he was 40.

 

Tony thought long and hard about the matter. He was a possessive man and he knew letting Parker go wouldn’t work. It hadn’t worked before and it wouldn’t work now; he loved his boy too much to see him with someone else. Tony was a vetted stalker, he’d admit that, and he knew he would never be able to bear watching his Peter grow and prosper with somebody else. That just wouldn’t do. 

 

So, to remedy the situation, many ideas floated through Tony’s mind, but none seemed ideal. Until he found  _ the _ solution. 

 

It had popped up in his mind after lying in bed awake next to his boyfriend, when, as per usual, he couldn’t sleep. He never could nowadays, especially not laying next to Peter who would just be woken up by his nightmares anyway. It wouldn’t be fair. So, Tony came up with what many tried to invent for years. A de-aging machine. Something to turn Tony from an old man to slightly a younger version of himself. Just to take four years off, maybe more if the machine truly worked. 

 

And so he started the blueprints, working day and night until there was  _ something  _ there. Something that could work. Then came the construction. DUM-E was no help as usual, but Tony felt they needed to be in on this operation. It was too much for one person.

 

Tony never told Peter what was going on. His boyfriend was busy with college and didn’t need the added stress of what Tony was doing. No, this was going to be a surprise. And by the time the day came, when the machine was ready, Tony was excited. He was excited to see what Peter’s expression would be when he saw the wrinkles gone, his hair black again, naturally, instead of the salt and pepper speckles he had going on right now.

 

“Why are you so happy?” Peter had asked that morning, a raised eyebrow. Tony just kissed his lips with a smile.

 

“Go to school, I’ll see you when you get home tonight.”

 

And that was that. They kissed goodbye one last time and Peter was off. Now it was time for Tony to prepare.

 

He’d tested this a thousand times. A decaying apple had turned ripe and crispy. An old rat had turned back into its youthful self. Next was Tony. 

 

The mechanic took a deep breath, staring into the door of the machine. Was he really going to do this? Change himself for a boy who had never even asked for this? The only answer Tony could come up with was yes, so he opened the door and let himself in. 

 

Deep breath. He pushed the button, closing his eyes. Another deep breath.

 

Then there was nothing.


	2. chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter meets teenage Tony for the first time.  
> There's flirting, awkwardness and just a dash of nerd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to @askmyknife for beta'ing for me :') And so quickly too! This would be a shit show without you <3  
> Enjoy!(:

Peter had not been expecting any calls today, especially not from Happy Hogan, who usually was more than pissed off at the mere mention of Peter’s name. In fact, the young man was positively sure that the only reason Happy hadn’t run him over in his Model 3 Tesla was that he was his boss’s boyfriend.

 

So it was no surprise that Peter had practically rushed out of his 3pm lecture at the sight of Happy’s caller ID, with a frantic, “Sorry, professor!” as he left his essay on the desk without a second look to see if it was for the right class. As soon as he was out the door, Peter answered the phone, practically tackling with his Spidey suit. Peter had been  _ dying  _ for a mission. Ever since the Thanos incident, Tony hadn’t let him near the action, only allowing Peter to continue his work as the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man. 

 

There had been arguments about the situation, but Tony had put his foot down. It was non-negotiable. Ever since seeing his young lover turn to dust in his own arms, Tony was terrified that something even worse than that fate would happen to Peter.

 

In Peter’s mind, the only reason that Happy could possibly be calling was because there was a new mission that they desperately needed his help with. Ever since Tony had knighted him an Avenger on the giant flying space donut, Peter had been desperate for his next taste of heroism. And this was his shot.

 

“Hi Happy! Is there a new mission?! What is it this time, more aliens? Or a nuclear disaster that created a bunch of zombies? I really hope there are zombies.” Peter was already halfway into his suit in the back alley next to NYU, when he heard Happy’s loud sigh, but no answer. “Happy? What’s up?”

 

“Behind you,” came Happy’s voice from the phone. Peter turned around, yelping and trying to cover his chest when he saw Tony’s assistant standing in the foot of the alleyway, a raised eyebrow and stern expression. “Come on, there’s no need for the superhero suit today. We’ve got a situation..”

 

Peter abashedly pulled on his (Tony’s, stolen) MIT sweater and headed over to the fancy-looking vehicle.

 

xXx

 

Peter wasn’t sure he believed the news when he had first heard it. Why would he? Tony had never shown any signs of being embarrassed or ashamed of his age, and he certainly had never shown any signs of wanting to change his appearance to seem younger. In fact, Peter had only truly believed it when he saw it with his own eyes.

 

It was definitely Tony Stark. His boyfriend had showed him pictures of himself of when he was younger (around his age, actually) creating all sorts of robots and machines like the genius he already was back then. Honestly, Peter was pretty sure he could recognise his boyfriend of two years, minus a few wrinkles. At the same time, when Peter entered the Stark Tower, he was unsure of what to think. What Happy had told him was still playing on the back of his mind.

 

_ “He doesn’t remember anything past his 20th birthday.” _

 

Anxiety had crept up on Peter when Happy told him that. He had wrapped his arms around his chest and pulled Tony’s scent from the sweater closer to himself. His boyfriend was essentially 20 years old again. All the knowledge he had grown over the years, deleted in a few minutes. Not only that, his memories, everything that had made Tony  _ Tony _ , gone in a blink of an eye. He didn’t recognise Pepper, didn’t recognise Happy. The only person he trusted was Rhodey. The realisation had sunk in at last.

 

Tony wouldn’t remember Peter.

 

Pepper had been reluctant to let Peter in on all of this. She didn’t know that Peter was Tony’s lover, had only thought that the boy was her boss’s mentee, nothing more. She’d been convinced to let Peter in when Rhodes had suggested that maybe having someone around Tony’s new age come in would make the genius feel more comfortable. No one seemed to have stopped to think of how Peter might feel.

 

Because Peter felt pretty damn awful. He was looking at  _ his _ Tony,  _ his _ boyfriend, curled up in the corner of the red sofa, looking so down and lonely and so  _ young _ . It was the same Tony, of course, the same deep brown eyes and the same high cheekbones, but he was  **_so young._ ** The wrinkles from years of stress and worrying had disappeared, the dark circles that used to hang under his eyes were gone, replaced with smooth skin, albeit a bit of stubble. It was still his Tony, so why did it feel so weird?

 

“Hi,” Peter started, and young Tony jumped a mile in his seat, bright eyes turning to look at Peter accusingly.

 

“And who the fuck are you?” Tony snarled, and Peter had to take a step back, shocked. He had not been expecting that kind of outburst. Yeah, maybe it was confusing to one minute think you’re at your twentieth birthday party getting drunk, the next being stone cold sober in a metal machine, but that wasn’t Peter’s fault. 

 

“I’m Peter,” he introduced himself after a moment of collecting himself, starting to walk towards the defensive male sitting on the sofa. “You don’t know me, but I know you. We… We were actually dating. I was- I am, your boyfriend.” Peter sighed, watching the expressions change on Tony’s face, from confusion, to realisation, to somewhat happy. Then again, smug might be a better word.

 

“Ah, so I finally settled down then?” young Tony asked, looking at Peter up and down, “I didn’t do too bad for myself, so it seems.” Despite Tony practically always complimenting Peter, it still made the teen blush. This flirting somehow seemed different, despite the fact it was the same voice as always speaking those words. “Well? Come sit down, I don’t bite… Well,” Tony winked, “since you’re apparently my boyfriend, I have an inkling that you might be.” Young Tony smirked like this was no big deal, but Peter’s heart dropped, remembering that this was his boyfriend. His Tony, who had purposely done this to himself to make himself younger.

 

Peter sat down on the plush sofa next to Tony, turning to face the other man and crossing his legs as he studied his face. Young Tony apparently didn’t like that.

 

“What are you staring at?” Tony grunted, causing Peter to break his gaze.

 

“Nothing, its just…” Peter trailed off, unsure of how to say his next words. “You just look like him, is all.” Tony let out a snort of a laugh, causing Peter to blush again.

 

“I  _ am  _ him,” Tony smirked, lifting a knee up to his chest and resting an elbow against it, scratching his chin. “You blush a lot. Its cute.” Peter groaned softly, leaning his head against the back of the sofa and looking at Tony with soft eyes. “You really like me don’t you?”

 

“Stop it.”

 

“What? Its true. You  _ love _ me.”

 

“Well, yeah, you were kind of my boyfriend of two years before you decided to play stupid with a de-aging machine and forget everything!” Peter hadn’t meant to shout, but the teasing tone in Tony’s voice was pissing him off. Of course he was still going to have feelings for him, just because he had lost 30 years didn’t mean his feelings would change. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout.”

 

Tony shook his head, looking apologetic. “No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have teased. I’m sure it’s weird to come home one day and see your once 50 year old boyfriend now-turned 20,” Tony sighed softly, scratching at his cheek. “I know its weird for me.”

 

There was an awkward silence, where Peter stared at Tony and Tony stared at the floor. Maybe younger Tony had more demons in him than Peter first thought.

 

Finally, Peter couldn’t stand the silence any longer. He cleared his throat, shooting Tony into attention again. It was almost as though the man had zoned out, thinking. It was kind of weirdly similar to how Peter’s normal Tony would act. “Right, well, Happy told me you’ve kind of forgotten everything, which is  _ crazy _ , so I was thinking I could maybe show you around your lab and answer any questions you might have?”

 

Tony seemed pretty up for it, so Peter stood and made sure he was being followed as he walked Tony to the lab.

 

It was a sight to see Tony’s face light up as they entered his element. Peter couldn’t help but smile a little at the huge grin on the man’s face. He was like a kid in a candy store, rushing towards his favourite sweet when he saw his first robot.

 

“DUM-E!” the mechanic cried, and Peter couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I thought dad threw you out years ago, good old me must’ve kept your blueprints! How are you buddy?” The robot seemed pleasantly surprised to get this reaction from Tony, who usually shouted and berated it (lovingly, of course) any chance he got. It was weirdly kind of sweet to watch.

 

“Usually, you’d be shouting at him ‘cause he passed you the wrong screwdriver,” Peter smirked, landing himself in an office chair and spinning around in it. Young Tony just smiled.

 

“It’s nice to see some familiarity,” Tony shrugged, slapping the side of the robot, “everything here is so new and shiny.”

 

Peter grinned. “You’ve seen nothing yet. FRIDAY, open the analytics.”

 

“Yes, Mr. Parker,” FRIDAY replied, and before Tony could be amazed at the fact he had his own AI, thousands of diagrams and numbers popped up around the room, showing some of Tony’s past projects and works. Tony’s eyes were the size of the moon.

 

“Cool, right?” Peter pointed out. Tony nodded, reaching out to touch a diagram of the world, which twirled when he flicked his finger. “And it’s all yours.”

 

Tony looked at Peter, wide eyed and hungry for more. “I made this?” Peter nodded, standing up and moving over to Tony, who was looking around the room like he was witnessing a miracle, like this couldn’t be real. 

 

“You made this,” Peter confirmed, reaching out and squeezing Tony’s shoulder. He was glad the man didn’t pull away, but instead welcomed his touch. It meant he was already getting more comfortable in the teen’s presence, and that was exactly what Peter wanted. “Do you want me to teach you how to use it?”

 

There was a grin on Tony’s face, wide and beautiful and blinding. There were creases on his eyes and his excitement shone through, just like that sparkling white of his teeth. Peter could’ve guessed Tony’s next words.

 

“Show me everything.”

 

And so, Peter did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys <3
> 
> If you'd like to follow me, my tumblr is www.starker-trash.tumblr.com/ <3


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